January 7, 2012 HIDDEN TREASURES

SCRIPTURE READING:  PROVERBS 2:1-5

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—
indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

DEFINITIONS:
Treasure:  wealth, riches, fortunes, value, pride and joy, delight, apple of your eye, pearl, hold dear, cherish, appreciate, precious gems
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As I had mentioned in the beginning, my goal is to discover secrets, mysteries, goals and I believe that this is what God is telling me.  We can now add hidden treasures to our discoveries of more of the "Secrets" that I plan to discover on my yearly journey with God for the year 2012.

Today's scripture is just reaffirming on how to go about finding the treasures of God.  It's all about reading His word, seeking Him in prayer and applying to what we discover.  I love the definition above "apple of your eye".  We are God's apple of His eyes.  He wants us to learn and seek wisdom and knowledge.  He has so many gems of the bible to show and teach us.  This scripture is also telling me I'm going in the right direction in seeking God's knowledge.  I feel this is going to be a journey I will never forget.  I want to share this journey to everyone.  I've been seeking so much knowledge that I've discovered that the year 2012 will be a year that everyone will not forget.  Now don't worry I don't believe the year is coming to an end, but I do believe we will be entering into a new era of life by the end of 2012.  I do believe that everyone really needs to get in God's word and discover what will happen to our political world.  Lot's of activity going on in the Middle East that we need to be very aware of.

In all reality,  I feel everyone should not get complacent with future events that GOD HIMSELF outlines.  We do know that in the Old Testament, we have seen and read that prophecies have happened. And there are prophetic writings of what I believe we will see in the near future.....just saying what I feel.  GET KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM....read your bibles.  If you have a hard time with this, then listen and reflect.  I have posted a link at the top of my blog for an Audio Daily Bible reading.  Listen to it...it only takes 20 minutes a day.  My blogs are going through this one year reading which happens to be on the Audible Bible.  I'm taking passages from that reading to discover my own secrets....Read with me and let's discuss what you secrets God is revealing to you.  I challenge everyone...please subscribe and let's get active in God's word.

PRAYER
Oh Heavenly Father, so many precious treasures that you want so much to reveal.  I love your word, I love you.  Lord, there are individuals out there I know want to learn what you teach and reveal in your written word.  Please find those individuals and bring them to my site and let's discuss your mysteries, your love for us and how to apply in our lives.  Let's share it together.....In Jesus name I pray....Amen

January 4, 2012 Don't Love Your Simple Ways!

SCRIPTURE READING & SCRIPTURE

Proverbs 1:20-23Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square;
on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech:
"How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.
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I know this is a very tough one this morning.  But it called aloud to me to think about my own simple minded ways.  I can have a tendency to get simple minded myself.  "Simple" minded in my Bible commentary basically getting lazy in knowledge.  I think based on this scripture that we all have a tendency to not read our bibles and get very complacent about the Word of God.  I know sometimes I just do the act to get it done but don't really chew on the Word and how to reflect His words in my on life.  If we seek God's words then He will teach us and feed us with knowledge that we can't even comprehend.

I know over the years in my own seeking of God's words, I have learned so much.  Discovered alot about me and my own trangressions that I was not even aware of.  God has been conflicting me in my own sins through his loving teachings to carve me into the person He wants me to be.  I think I'm going through that whittling process now.  I think we all have to go through this process to get to the next level of what God wants us to learn.  Sometimes it is a tough learning process to get to that next level.  This past 4 months has been very trying for me and God is really pressing in on me to learn how to keep me quiet, especially during  difficult confrontations.  Not an easy thing for me to do.  I really try hard but before I even think about it, there my mouth runs over.  I hate when that happens.  This is a hard one for me.  But I know it needs to be polished for me to become the person He wants me to be.

PRAYER
Oh precious Father, you are so patient with me when I'm so impatient with life.  You have a lot to teach me and I need to learn to sit still and listen and just keep my mouth shut.  I know you are trying to teach me the wisdom to say the right things and when.  Help me Lord to discern this.  Thank you Father for helping me see this and help me work through this in Jesus name I pray.....Amen

January 3, 2012 Thresh Out The Chaff

SCRIPTURE READING:  Matthew 3:7 - 4:11

SCRIPTURE:  Matthew 3:12
He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with His winnowing fork.  Then He will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into His barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.

DEFINITIONS:

CHAFF
husks of grain or seed
chopped hay & straw used as fodder
lighthearted joking
worthless things
distinguish good from bad

WINNOWING
 blow free of chaff
get rid of from grain
separate, examine

THRESHING
beat out or separate
analyze in search of a solution

WHEAT
cereal plant bearing dense four-sided seed spikes
grain used in making flour
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I thought this verse today was a good verse to use as a New Resolution.   Jesus Christ begins in helping us with any resolution we want to start for the year 2012.  Jesus is the only one that can see to it that any goal that we want to complete for this year.  It begins with Him.  We need to have Jesus in every aspect in our lives.  We need to pray for anything that we need, problems to solve, decisions to make and helping others.  Jesus will help separate the chaff in our lives and thresh out the bad so that we can have a never-ending fire of His love and light.  If we listen and read His Word, the answers will come.  The flour of the wheat will become great things if we allow Jesus in our lives.  He is ready and He is waiting....waiting for us just to knock and ask.

In our church service on Sunday, our associate pastor talked about knocking on Jesus' door to seek and ask through prayer.  Prayer, this is something I personally need to work harder and PUSH (Pray Until Something Happens) for what I need to happen.  PUSH my finances away, PUSH so that I have better health, PUSH that my son will have better job,  PUSH for peace in my soul and that I will no longer have fear in anything and my anxieties of life will go away.  PUSH that Jesus will thresh out the chaff in me and purify me into a fine flour to do His will.  This is my resolution......PUSH!

PRAYER
Dear Heavenly Father, I praise and love you.  You are the creator of all things.  You are our resolutions of everything we want to accomplish.  Through my Father all things can be done with your strength.  Refine me, Oh Lord, into a fine flour of your will.  Thresh out the chaff in my life so that I can do your will, in the mighty name in Jesus Christ.....Amen

January 2, 2012 DREAMS

SCRIPTURE READING:  Matthew 2:13 - 3:6

SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 2:13
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

DEFINITION

Dreams

a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep.

the sleeping state in which this occurs.

an object seen in a dream.

an involuntary vision occurring to a person when awake.

a vision voluntarily indulged in while awake; daydream; reverie.

to think or conceive of something in a very remote way

to indulge reveries

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Do you dream?  If so, do you remember them?  I have found that if I remember a dream in detail when I wake up it means that I need to think about it in more detail.  If it is a dream that stays on my mind, I believe it to be something that God is trying to say to me.  If I dream a reocurring dream, God is trying to teach me something.  If I dream about someone or a situation, it's usually a conflict that I need to address.  Sometimes I dream that I'm a main character in the dream and sometimes I'm just an outsider looking in the dream.  I do believe at times I dream in color and sometimes I don't. 

I believe God talks to us in our dreams.  I use to be more in tune with my dreams and usually can understand the meanings.  Usually due to spiritual growth or conflicts going on in my life   Lately I do not seem to remember in detail most of my dreams but when I do, it's worth investigating and looking into.  Like my dream of "Secrets".  The reason I've decided to research my yearly bible reading/study of secrets, mysteries, dreams etc....

The last couple of nights I've had disturbing dreams about a situation.  It has to do with a conflict that I'm dealing with right now.  A conflict, that really is upsetting me to the point that I want to just throw up.  I've been praying to God to help me with this. In praying about it and thinking about it, I know I need to just listen and be quiet.  In learning about "honor" in my classes, I've discovered that this is something I need to learn.  My dreams are making me aware I just need to relax and let God take over this situation.  I can't do anything about it no matter what I say or do, how much I do, it is in God's hands not mine.

PRAYER
My blessed Father,  I lift you up in praise and love.  I give you honor that you are my comforter, my provider and you will take care of whatever problems I may have.  Lord, I give you my troubling situation for you to handle, for I can no longer handle it.  I no longer want to taste it's bitter vile that is trapped in my gut.  In the name of Jesus, give back the sweet taste of understanding and keep me quiet as necessary.  Thank you sweet Jesus for you everlasting love.  In my precious Jesus name....Amen

January 1, 2012 A NEW BEGINNING

SCRIPTURE READING:  Proverbs 1:1-6

SCRIPTURE:

Proverbs 1: 5&6
Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser.  Let those with understanding receive guidance by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parable, the words of the wise and their riddles.

DEFINITION:

Riddle: 

a question or statement so framed as to exercise one's ingenuity in answering it or discovering its meaning; conundrum. .

a puzzling question, problem, or matter.

a puzzling thing or person.

any enigmatic or dark saying or speech

Happy New Year Everyone!!!  I wish everyone a new bright 2012 year.  May God bless each and everyone of you.

As with every year, we start out on the first with resolutions of diets, exercise, get out debt and all sort of goals that starts out on this day.  I've decided not to even go there because as soon as I try to make promises to myself, I always fail. 

I do know one thing....I have missed blogging this past year.  Since I've started The Way Bible College my desire for blogging has really increased.  I have so much to share to everyone.  I'm learning so much.  At college, we were given a S.O.A.P journal that enables you to read the bible through the year.  As I started this morning, discovered that the SOAP journal goes along with my One Year Bible for Women.....Duh....anyway, we shall start "....in the beginning...."  Oh by the way, S.O.A.P stands for Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer.....

This year, I'm going to do something a bit different.  I had a dream several years ago that had the word "SECRET" given to me by Jesus.  So my goal this year, is to discover secrets in the Bible and share what I've discovered.  Being that this is the year of 2012, the most talked about, read about, and controversial year, I thought this would be an interesting study for the "Secrets" of God.

Being that said, this was why the above Proverb verses stuck out for me and  the word "Riddle" I consider as part of the secret to my discovery.  Part of reading the Bible is opening your heart and let God's words flow through you and the Holy Spirit will reveal what God wants you to learn.  God will reveal the secrets He wants us to hear.  Become wise and listen, chew on it, pray on it and receive guidance of what God wants you to learn.  Let God whisper His secrets to you.  I plan to learn as many secrets that He can possibly throw at me this year.

PRAYER

Dear Father God, 

You gave me a dream that has been in my thoughts for years.  And this year, I will research all the secrets you plan to reveal to me.  This year I am going to read every word of this bible.  I want to absorb as much as I can absorb and share what I learn to my friends.  God you are our Creator, our Abba Father, that loves us more than I can even imagine. Take me on this journey and I look forward what you will reveal to me, give me wisdom and understanding.  In Jesus name I pray....Amen

Christmas of 2011

Well we are coming to a close of the year of 2011. It's Christmas Eve morning, I'm sitting here reminiscing over the year wondering where did the year go. It's been a busy year!!!! Starting with my son getting engaged and married in a matter of 3 months. I now have a wonderful daughter that I can finally spoil. I'm so much enjoying my new extended family. Not only do I have a wonderful daughter but I really enjoy her family as well. Spent Thanksgiving with them and had such a wonderful relaxed time and felt like I was a part of their family too.

Let's see.... Not only did we adopt a daughter, we have also adopted another cat. Some kids in the neighborhood had him and wanted us to care for this cat. Well we brought him in and he immediately made us his home. His name is Gumbo. Never had a male cat before and male cats definitely have a different personality than my female cat Trixie. By the way, Trixie, hates him....so we are the official referees between these two. Trixie has become such a grumble bear. Poor thing... I guess I would grumble too if I had someone constantly picking on me and jumping on top of me and biting me too....oh wait..... Gumbo does that to me too. He loves to play. Before I had him declawed, my arms were the results of battle scars of our play. He's rough. Gumbo has really livened the household. Lots of laughter, yelling, broken nick-nacs, and lots of cuddling and love, we are really enjoying him.

Our travels this year has been to Tahoe and Branson, which I have not been to either. Tahoe was beautiful, but I couldn't handle the altitude. It was a wierd feeling and a constantly saw spots. My face puffed up like a Marshmellow Dough Boy. So my experience was not so positive. But discovered afterwards that I've become allergic to SPF products. I was using a cover stick that I had just bought for the trip that had SPF. The more I would try and cover my swollen red eyes the more they would swell. But when I didn't where make up it would get better. Hence, the discovery...so it wasn't all Tahoe's fault. But I still blamed the spots in my eyes cause that went away when I came home.

Branson was really fun and relaxing. We did a lot of sleeping. Never enjoyed naps as I did that week. I went Zip-lining.....Oh what a blast that was!!!! Loved it. Don't worry no bungee jumping for me.....this is about as adventurous I will get.... But makes me wonder about skydiving...Hmmmm....hubby and I have been talking about the possibility. We went to see various shows, Noah, Six and Shoji....and had a wonderful time.

I've gone back to school with my son at The Way Bible College in The Woodlands to get an associates degree in Biblical studies and theology. Loving it!!!!! Will be going this year and next. I'm learning so much about my precious Lord Jesus Christ that my mind and heart is about to explode in joyfulness.

So this has been the high lights of my year and I wondered where it went.....it's been a blessed year. I see that my Netflix Fireplace program has ended and I need to start it up again, make me another cup of coffee and send prayers to everyone out in my Facebook land a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a GLORIOUS PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!!!! Love each and every one of you!

GOD SENT ME AN ANGEL

SCRIPTURES
He ordered his angels
to guard you wherever you go.
If you stumble, they'll catch you;
their job is to keep you from falling.
You'll walk unharmed among lions and snakes,
and kick young lions and serpents from the path
(Palms 91:11-13)

I believe in angels.....God finally sent me an angel from Heaven.  Today I was having a very stressful day, mentally, physically and emotionally.  I had to get out of the office because I felt that I was just losing it....you know what I mean...the kind that the screaming meemees were going to surface.  I decided I wanted to go to my favorite restaurant.  It was closed of all days due to some catering thing that they were doing.  I was so disappointed.  I came out of the parking lot and pulled out without looking to the left and almost hit the lady or the lady almost hit me....but anyway it would have been my fault.  I felt terrible...And of course the woman was a bit shook up too.  That did it...The tears were choking in my throat.  I still had to come up with some lunch and decided I would head over to Subway.  On my way to subway I saw CVS and thought "Soup" sounded good and realized there was an HEB next door.  So I turned in to HEB and went into the store.  A store I really didn't know and of course knew nothing about where to find soup.  Still with lumps in my throat, I heard a voice, "You sure look pretty today"...the voice startled me because this was a thought that crossed my mind before I left for lunch...thinking how ugly I felt and looked.  I turned toward the voice and saw the sweetest old lady about 4'9' in a pretty pink blouse and she looked at me and I said "Who Me?" and she said "Yes!  I think you look so pretty.  I love your outfit"  I just threw my arms around that woman and started crying and said..."Awww thank you!!!...If you knew how much this meant to me because I feel so bad...thank you so much"  I just hugged her and she hugged back and perceded to talk about my white crochetted sweater.  God knew what I needed and he gave me that sweet little angel.  A grandmother type...I just bawled and squalled that God was thinking of me today and knew I needed his embrace.

PRAYER
Oh Dear Heavenly Father....thank you so much for your embrace and being there when I needed your hug.  I can't thank you enough.  I so much love you Lord....I'm speechless,even as I go back in rememberance of an hour ago...Thank you again... Jesus name I pray....Amen